Target Acquired

Exercise Strong Will 2016 was being conducted as part of a Hungarian–French exchange training program, this year with the participation of eight French army scouts from the 3rd Esterhazy Hussar Reconnaissance Regiment (3e Régiment de Hussards). The relations between the French recce unit and the 24th Bornemissza Gergely Reconnaissance Battalion go back to 2012, and since then French soldiers have already took part in the exercises of the battalion on several occasions.

The dayslong joint exercise was based the scenario of a complex reconnaissance task, which aimed to allow the soldiers to learn how to cooperate with the army scouts of the other nation. The Multiple Integrated Laser Engagement System (MILES) was also employed in order to create realistic circumstances. After receiving the operational order (OPORD), the soldiers were inserted into the target area by air (helicopter) in the first phase. Having secured the landing zone, the members of other teams were also deployed by helicopter to the area of operations.

On the first day, they were tasked with observing a command post of an enemy subunit, and then, by exploiting the terrain, the combined long-range reconnaissance teams had to covertly reach a predesignated point of extraction. After being extracted, they received a fragmentary order (FRAGORD) instructing them to observe an artillery observation post, and to get ready for raiding it. The army scouts were continuously observing the assigned targets for two days, even by night, and sent reports to the tactical operations center (TOC) of the battalion on the intelligence they gathered and the movement of enemy forces in the region.

Maj. Ákos Kreácsik, the chief of staff of the 24th Bornemissza Gergely Reconnaissance Battalion, exercise director told us that in addition to the French soldiers, this task involved two US army scouts as observers, who gave a positive assessment of the result. “This multinational training program promotes the professional development of our personnel, because the common exercises and training events with soldiers coming from foreign militaries provide us with very good opportunities to increase cooperation and share the lessons learned", the major added.

The last task was to destroy the already observed objective during a reconnaissance live fire event. During this, the teams set out to advance in formation, carrying their AK-63 assault rifles fitted with PBS-1 silencers. The recce parties cooperated and destroyed the targets with excellent results. After the raid, the teams encountered the “enemy" in strength, so they commenced disengagement and withdrawal from the area without delay.

Photo by the author